While I don’t work for AKNES that’s not how they operate, you are getting the latest product offering through them, they only sell Hallpi sticks or the GuliKit sticks all coming from the Hallpi factory. AliExpress is really a safe place to buy if you pay attention to the store, AKNES also has a discord with a great community. VaalPaev is where I get Ginfull and Favor Union and have always gotten quality products. If you need bulk sticks you can bypass AliExpress and buy in bulk directly from AKNES. I can attest to the fact that no one other than “shopxxxxxx” with random numbers has ever sent me old stock. It’s like any retailer, certain 3rd party sellers will hose you. If you buy direct from factory contacts you’ll get quality products.

Quick update:
Issue has been resolved very quickly by the team at Aliexpress, but @AKNES here has also been very quick to respnd and helpful as well.
I absolutely recommend reaching out to Jim if needed, my experience was that he answered very quickly.
The issue I had in this case was one stick where the left/right stopped working.
the physical movement left/right feels different on that stick now as well, so my suspicion, without actively opening it,is that the
magnet or similar may have gotten dislodged internally.
The team have arranged a new stick to come out, so hopefully I can disassemble this stick and have a look once it's swapped out.

Hey all, new here. Took the plunge and bought a set of the latest gulikit offering a couple of weeks ago through AKNES aliexpress site
(die to not being able to find the store on Amazon Australia), arrived and fitted last night.
I'm quite happy with them, the tension is actually a touch stiffer than the original sticks, and the caps actually seem to be marginally larger in diameter as well.
Definitely have not found the stick buttons too soft (in my case, the trigger for replacement was that one of my original joycon stick buttons more or less crapped out and wouldn't press properly), and I seem to have gotten the 'good' caps, because I’m finding the feel and texture to be the same as the originals, or near enough to......